Chapter 11
Developmental Perspectives on Cognition
3 general approaches that cognitive theorists have taken:
information processing theory
Constructivist
Contextual
Piaget: through interacting with and reflecting on their physical and social worlds, children selfconstruct increasingly complex understandings and reasoning abilities with age (pg 308)
Vygotsky: society and culture provide a wide variety of concepts, strategies, and other cognitive “tools”
that children gradually begin to use in thinking about and dealing with everyday tasks and problems.
Piaget’s theory of Cognitive Development - conducted experiments during the 1920’s
 Children are active and motivated learners. They are naturally curious about their world and
actively seek out information to help them make sense of it. (see Laurent example pg 310)
 Children organize what they learn from their experiences.
o Children create (rather than simply absorb) their knowledge of the world
o Schemes – the things children learn and can do, they are repeated in response to their
environment (infant-schemes for grasping, teenager schemes related to logical thinking
applied to a variety of social, political, and moral issues)
 Interaction with the physical environment is critical for learning and cognitive development
o Learning such things as gravity, physical characteristics of volume and weight
 Interaction with other people is equally critical for learning and development
o Especially preschooler – no concept of seeing the world through anyone’s perspective
but their own. Social interactions such as conversations or conflict (fair play, sharing)
children gradually see different individuals see things differently.
 Children Adopt to their environment through the process of assimilation and accommodation
o Assimilation – dealing with an object or event that is consistent with an existing scheme
or existing knowledge
o Accommodation – (new object or event) children either modify an existing scheme or
form an entirely new scheme.
o Assimilation is almost always necessary for accommodation to occur – you must be able
to relate new experiences to what you already know before you can learn from it
 Equilibrium – children can comfortably interpret and respond to new events using existing
knowledge
 Disequilibrium – inadequate knowledge and skill (a mental discomfort) that spurs them to try to
make sense of what they have observed.
Once the knowledge is gained equilibrium occurs which promotes the development of
more complex levels of thought and knowledge
 Children think in qualitatively different ways at different ages.
PIAGET”S STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Sensorimotor Stage (Birth Until age 2) –
 children’s understandings of the world are largely based on their physical interactions with it.
 Cause and effect -based on observing and consequences of action
 Goal oriented behaviors – acting brings a desired result
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Object permanence – understanding physical objects continue to exist even when out of sight
Symbolic thought – internal, mental entities, or symbols (pretending to talk on a toy telephone)
Preoperational Stage (2 to 6 or 7)
 The ability to represent objects and events mentally (symbolic thought)
 Language development
 Communicate thoughts and receive info from other people
 Recall past events, envision future ones
Limitations:
confuse thoughts and emotions w/physical reality (ex. The bogeyman in a closet)
Egocentrism
Limited logical reasoning
See pg 314-315 conversation w/a six yr old boy, and glass/water example on (315)
Concrete Operations Stage (age 6/7 to 11/12)
 Logical operation development which they can integrate various qualities and perspectives
 Advanced abilities (realize their own perspectives and feelings are not shared by all, seek out
external validation for their ideas, asking questions like “what do you think? And Did I get the
problem right?
 Capable of conversation
Limitations: can only apply their logical operations to concrete, observable objects and events, have
difficulty dealing with abstract concepts and with hypothetical ideas
Formal Operational State (age 11/12 – adulthood)
 Capable of thinking and reasoning about things that have little or no basis in physical reality,
abstract concepts, hypothetical ideas, etc.
 Abilities essential to math and scientific reasoning emerge – proportional thinking
 Can examine their own thought process and evaluate the quality and logic of those thoughts
 Start to show concern of bigger issues: world hunger, global warming etc.
Capabilities of Different Age-Groups – (Problems with Piaget’s theory)
 Preschoolers are apparently more competent than Piaget’s description – (infants show signs of
object permanence as early as 2 ½ months)
 Preschoolers don’t always show egocentrism
 Elementary students can show ability to think abstractly and hypothetically
 1st and 2nd graders can understand simple proportions (1/2, 1/3 and ¼)
 Overestimated adolescents – more gradual emergence of the formal operational thinking
process
Effects of Experience and Prior Knowledge (319)
 Explicit training and other experiences often help youngsters acquire reasoning abilities sooner
than Piaget suggests
 In general, adolescents and adults are apt to apply formal operational thoughts to topics about
which they have a great deal of knowledge about (or in MJ case have way too much time on
their hands) and yet think concretely about topics which they are unfamiliar.
Cultural Effects (319)
 Piaget’s stage were universal to children around the globe, yet research indicates that cognitive
development differs somewhat from one culture to another.
NON-PIAGETIAN THEORIES OF COGNITVE DEVELOPMENT (321)
 Cognitive development is constrained by the maturation of information processing mechanisms
in the brain –
o it places a “ceiling on what kids can accomplish at any particular age
 Children acquire cognitive structures that affect their thinking in particular content domains
o based on specific knowledge, experiences, and instruction related to the task at hand
 Development in specific content domains can sometimes be characterized as a series of stageso they may become proficient in reading which will help their decoding skills,
comprehension skills, so –on but the rates at which each skill is mastered will vary from
one child to the next
 Formal Schooling has a greater influence on cognitive development that Piaget believed
Case theory (pg 322)  Central Conceptual Structures – integrated networks of concepts and cognitive processes that
form the basis for much of children’s thinking, reasoning, and learning in particular areas. Over
time these networks undergo major transformation marking a higher stage of development
1) Structure = numbers, numbers= concepts and operations as numbers like counting,
addition, and subtraction
2) Structure = spatial relations, children’s performance in drawing, construction and use of
maps, replication of geometric patterns, and psychomotor activities.
3) Structure = social thoughts –children’s interpersonnel relationships, their knowledge of
common scripts related to human interactions, and their comprehension of short stories
and works of fiction. (children’s general beliefs about human being’s thoughts, desires,
and behaviors)
 Case study of Numbers from ages 4-10 about a child’s development of mathematics and
numbers (Pgs323-325, reference if needed?)
Implications of Piaget and Non-Piaget theories (pg 325-329)
 Children can learn a great deal through hands-on experiences with physical objects and natural
phenomena. (Discovery Learning) – most effective when child-initiated and child directed effort
Downside- students may misinterpret what the observe (pg 326 – eleventh grader
example of misinterpretation)
 Puzzling phenomena can create disequilibrium and spur children to acquire new understandings
o Example – belief Metal sinks, wood floats Counter example- a metal battleship floating
 Interactions with peers can also promote more advanced understandings
o Sociocognitive conflict – interactions with age-mates that involves a difference of
opinion can create disequilibrium that may spur a child to reevaluate their current
perspectives (pg 327 offer 3 more reasons)
 Children are more likely to reason in sophisticated ways when they work with familiar tasks and
topics (pg 327 – fishing example- students that have actually fished were able to separate and
determine the variable easier than nonfisherman
 Piaget’s clinical method can offer many insights into children’s reasoning processes
o Teacher’s can gain valuable insight into how their students think and reason
 Piaget’s stages can provide some guidance about when certain abilities are likely to emerge
o The four stages are not always accurate but can be used as a general guideline
o Help provide guidance for teaching strategies at certain age levels
o Most reasoning skills emerge more gradually than piaget’s stages
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Children can succeed in a particular domain only when they have mastered basic concepts and
skills central to that domain
VYGOTSKY’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Pg 329
Key Ideas:
Biological Factors play a role in development such as characteristics and dispositions, inherited
traits, social and cultural environment
 Human begins have a higher mental function – enhance learning, memory, and logical reasoning
 Adults convey to children the ways in which their culture interprets and responds to the world
o Adults share w/children the meanings they attach to objects, events, and human
experiences (conveyed through language, mathematic symbols, art, music, literature)
o Culture also shapes cognitive development by passing down wisdom learned from
generation to generation
 Cultures pass down physical and cognitive tools that make life more efficient and effective
- Computers, maps, spreadsheets
- Children are more likely to acquire map-reading skills if: roads, subways, shopping malls are
promanant in their community and family life
 Thoughts and language become increasingly interdependent in the first few years of life
o Around age 2 – thoughts and language become intertwined, children can express their
thoughts when they speak and begin to think in terms of words
o Self talk emerges and evolves into inner speech
 Complex Mental processes begin as social activites, as children develop, they gradually
internalize the processes and use them interdepentently (Higher Metal Function)
o As children discuss objects, events, tasks, and problems with adults and other
knowledgable individuals they gradually incorporate their own thinking the ways in
which the people around them talk about and interpret the world, and they begin to use
words, concepts, symbols and strategies that are typical for their culture
o Emerges through interactions w/peers – through arguments children discover there are
several points of view about the same situation.
 Children transform ideas, strategies, and other cognitive tools to suit their own needs and
purposes – appropriation
 Children can accomplish more difficult tasks when they have assistance from people more
advanced
o Actual developmental level – upper limits of a task performed independently
o Level of potential development – upper limits w/assistance of a more competent
individual
o Children can do more difficult things in collaboration w/adults (example – swing a bat,
build a website )
 Challenging asks promote maximum cognitive growth
o Zone of proximal development – range of tasks a child cannot perform independently
but can perform w/help and guidance from others
o Children learn very little from tasks they can already do instead it is the challenges in life
that promote cognitive development
Current Perspectives on Vygotsky’s Theory (pg 333)
Social Construction of Meaning – adults help children make sense of the world (pg 333
sabertooth example)
Children often talk amongst themselves to make sense of a situation that they could not do
individually (pg 334 using a number line to solve a problem)
Scaffolding –
challenging tasks can be accomplished through:
1. Asking questions that get students thinking in appropriate ways about a task (pg 335)
2. Helping students develop a plan for dealing w/ a new task
3. Modeling correct performance
4. Divide a complex task into several parts
5. Specific guidelines
6. Provide sufficient technology (computer, calculator)
7. Keep students attention focused on the relevant aspect of the task
8. Ask productive questions
9. Remind the goals
10. Frequent feedback
Participation in Adult Activities (pg 336)
o Gradual entry into adult activities gets kids into their zone of proximal development
Apprenticeships – (pg 336-337)
o a novice works with an expert for a lengthy period of time to perform complex tasks
Acquistion of Teaching Skills (pg 338)
o As we acquire new skills and master them, we learn how to teach those skills
o When children and adults teach each other the “teacher” often benefits as much as the
“student”
Dymanic Assessment (pg 338)
o Indentifying tasks that students cannot initially do independently, providing in depth
instruction and practice in behaviors and cognitive processes related to the task, and
then determining the extent to which each child has benefitted from the instruction
Sociocultural Element to information Processing theory (pg 339)
Intersubjectivity - two people interact and communicate, each member has some awareness of what
the other person knows, sees, thinks, and feels
o Joint attention – infant and caregiver can focus on a single object and coordinate their
behaviors toward an object
o Socail referencing – 2nd year, looking at someone else for clues how to respond or feel
about something
Social Construction of Memory- parents begin to engage children in conversation about the past events
called co-constructed narratives. They help children make sense of an event and perhaps apply labels to
them and also remember the event more effectively
o Children can better encode and remember the things they talk about
o If adults focus on certain aspects, children learn what things to remember
o Children acquire perspectives and values appropriate for their culture
Collaborative Use of Cognitive Strategies (pg 341)
Adults can engage children in activities that require collaborative use of strategies, children gradually
internalize the strategies and begin to use them independently.
Implications of Vygotsky’s Theory
 Children can think more effectively when they acquire the basic cognitive tools of various
activities and academic disciplines
 Children learn and remember more when they talk about their experiences
 Children should have opportunities to engage in activities that closely resemble those they will
encounter in adulthood. (authentic tasks Should sound familiar)
 Group learning activies can help children internalize cognitive strategies
 Children often acquire better strategies when they collaborate with adults on complex tasks
 Challenging tasks, especially when sufficiently scaffolded, are likely to foster maximum cognitive
development
 Children’s abilities should be assessed under a variety of work conditions
Common themes of Piagetian and Vygotskian Perspectives (pg 345-346)
ARE YOU READY FOR THESE EARTH SHATTERING THEMES ????? WOW
1. Qualitative changes in the nature of thought – children think differently at different ages
2. Challenge – children benefit most from challenging tasks
3. Readiness – there are limits on the tasks that children can reasonably handle at any particular
time.
4. Social Interaction – the foundation for thought processes
Key Differences: Pg 347
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The role that language plays in cognitive development
The relative value of free exploration versus more structured and guided activites
The relative impoirtance of interactions with peers versus adults
Influences of culture